Air raids on Fürth

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The memorial stone for the victims of the air raids during the Second World War in Fürth was unveiled in 1948 in the Fürth municipal cemetery.

Fürth was exposed to around 15 Allied air raids during the Second World War . Often these actually applied to the neighboring city of Nuremberg , but there was damage and loss among the civilian population in Fürth as well. While some bomb hits were more "incidental", there were also targeted air strikes on war-essential Fürth facilities such as the Dynamit AG plant , the barracks in the southern part of the city and above all the facilities of Bachmann , von Blumenthal & Co. Flugzeugbau (BBF), an aircraft repair company at today's Hardhöhe . While the factory airfield was hit several times, the airfield in Atzenhof remained completely undamaged. Other attacks were made on the city center as part of the British strategy of area bombing . The air war in Fürth claimed 448 lives. Almost 9.9 percent of the building stock in Fürth was destroyed (total and severe damage), based on the number of apartments this was 10.3 percent. However, this is a relatively low number compared to other cities.

Chronicle of the air raids

17th August 1940
At 1 a.m. there was an air alarm: a single British bomber dropped its bombs on Burgfarrnbach . These slightly damaged Würzburger Strasse due to splintering and destroyed a barn at Egersdorfer Strasse 14. According to today's documents, the attack should actually have been aimed at the MAN plants in Augsburg , the bomber threw its load on Fürth due to a navigation error. The flak stationed around Fürth fired between 1:30 a.m. and 1:45 a.m.
25./26. February 1943
This first targeted attack mainly hit the north of the city and was probably directed against the Dynamit AG plant . During the approximately 90-minute attack, the buildings at Erlanger Strasse 30, 50, 57, Kronacher Strasse 171, Ronhofer Hauptstrasse 191 and 178 were hit. There were 25 or 26 dead in Fürth. It was probably also this attack that hit the Ronwald bunker and lost its roof through an air mine. In this attack, which also hit Nuremberg, 291 British bombers were involved, which dropped 387.7 tons of high explosive and 461.6 tons of incendiary bombs over the two cities. Nine bombers were lost.
8/9 March 1943
In the course of an attack on Nuremberg, Fürth was hit by British bombers again: at 10:55 p.m. the sirens wailed and 15 minutes later the first of 301 enemy aircraft dropped their cargo - consisting of 407 tons of high-explosive bombs and 486.4 tons of incendiary bombs - to Fürth and the neighboring city. This time the children's home Zirndorfer Straße 114, the furniture factory Scheidig (Badstraße), Karolinenstraße, Alexanderstraße 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, Amalienstraße 43, 45, 47 and 48, 50, 52 and the tax office were hit at Hallplatz. The attack cost 39 lives in Fürth. This time the Royal Air Force (RAF) lost seven bombers.
10/11 August 1943
Fürth was bombed for ninety minutes - together with Nuremberg. The alarm lasted from 1:00 a.m. to about 2:30 a.m. There was damage in the Wolfsgrubermühle, Dambach, Burgfarrnbach, Westvorstadt, Veitsbronn, Vach, Südstadt (including the Schickedanz works ), Ludwigstraße, Amalienstraße and Winklerstraße. In addition, almost all of the Quelle GmbH buildings on Artilleriestraße were destroyed. This time, 611 RAF bombers - 15 of which were shot down - dropped 840 tons of high-explosive bombs and 1,031.9 tons of incendiary bombs. The medical report names 19 fatalities in Fürth, 6 in Jahnstraße, 1 in Stadeln, 2 in Ronwaldstraße, 1 in Kaiserstraße, 1 in Göringstraße (today Vacher Straße), 3 in Burgfarrnbach, 2 from Nuremberg and 3 other foreigners.
February 25, 1944
As part of the so-called Big Week , the Bachmann aircraft repair plant was also a target of the attacks on Friday. The first of the 161 US B-24 bombers appeared at about 12:40 p.m. coming from the west via Burgfarrnbach and dropped bombs until 3:15 p.m. The aircraft factories were badly hit. Bombs also hit Cadolzburger Strasse, Gutenbergstrasse, Regelsbacher Strasse, Schlehenstrasse, Bäumenstrasse, Geismann Brewery, Blumenstrasse 53, Birkenstrasse, Maistrasse, Sommerstrasse, Hallplatz, Königsstrasse, Hirschenstrasse, Rosenstrasse, Katharinenstrasse, Blumenstrasse and Theaterstrasse and Schlehengasse. The attack claimed 139 and 141 deaths, 4 children, 21 young people, 116 adults, including 6 Wehrmacht members, 5 prisoners of war and 11 “foreign workers” in the Fürth city area. Six American Liberators were shot down. 249.8 tons of high-explosive bombs, 59.6 tons of incendiary bombs and 110.3 tons of air mines were dropped. Eight USAAF bombers dropped 24 tons of high-explosive bombs at the Burgfarrnbach train station.
September 8, 1944
In this 6th attack, the southern part of the city was particularly hit - because of its barracks . The Hans-Lohnert sports field was also damaged. In this attack, 44 British bombers in small formations dropped 65 tons of high-explosive bombs and one ton of incendiary bombs on targets in the greater Nuremberg area .
September 10, 1944
The Bachmann factory was again attacked by Blumenthal & Co. KG that day. The alarm lasted from 10:30 a.m. to 12:07 p.m. In addition to severe damage on the factory premises, 40 buildings in Burgfarrnbach were also damaged. 62 US bombers were involved, dropping 120 tons of high explosive and 30 tons of incendiary bombs.
November 28, 1944
In the early evening (7:15 p.m.) the dynamite plant was attacked again. However, the Königsstrasse, the Grüner brewery on Gartenstrasse and the clinic were also hit.
February 19, 1945
The Kurgartenstrasse was damaged by bombs.
February 21, 1945
In this attack on Nuremberg, in which 1198 bombers dropped a total of 1700.3 tons of high-explosive bombs and 1168.5 tons of incendiary bombs, the Kleeblattstadt was hit hard again. The bombs fell between 10:45 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. There was damage in Karolinenstraße, Waldstraße, Ritterstraße, Gebhardtstraße, Bahnhofstraße, Friedrichstraße (Parkhotel), Moststraße, Hindenburgstraße (today Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße), Adolf-Hitler-Straße (today Königswarterstraße), Königsstraße and Nürnberger Straße. In addition, the Foerstermühle was damaged, as well as the Maxbrücke and the farm building of the SpVgg Fürth destroyed. 86 deaths were registered, including 48 local citizens, 9 non-residents, 17 foreigners, 11 strangers, 1 man died in hospital.
March 16, 1945
The 12th air raid resulted in two total losses in Südstadt (Sonnenstrasse 38 and 40).
April 5, 1945
66 US bombers attacked the artillery depot Schwabacher Strasse (between today's Konrad-Kurz-Strasse and Rothenburger Strasse). 143.2 tons of high-explosive bombs and 50.6 tons of incendiary bombs fell.
April 8, 1945
The target of a heavy air attack was once again Bachmann from Blumenthal & Co. KG , who, according to eyewitness reports, were "totally destroyed". The newly built settlement on Wehlauer Strasse was also badly hit, with two thirds of the buildings completely destroyed. 89 American bombers dropped 154.5 tons of high explosive and 54 tons of incendiary bombs. The attacks of April 5th and 8th claimed a total of 71 lives. Most sources mention April 8, 1945 as the day of the last air raid on Fürth.
April 18, 1945
The last attack may have been flown one day before Fürth's surrender, but the sources mostly only report artillery or mortar fire, and the damage balance from April 16 to 19, 1945 does not show any damage from air raids. The day before, the direct bombardment by tanks and artillery began. As early as April 12, and especially on the 17th, numerous bridges etc. had been blown up by the Wehrmacht. About 600 mortar shells (caliber 4.2 inches = 10.7 cm) were fired on the southern part of Fürth on the evening of April 18 (from the position of the Alte Veste stop ) and - starting earlier - an unknown number of artillery shells all over Fürth shot down.

The numbers of attacking aircraft and bombs dropped are total numbers for the respective operation. Bombs that hit targets outside of Fürth are also included.

In the air raid on Nuremberg on January 2, 1945, 8 people from Fürth were also killed, but no bombs fell on the city of Fürth.

War damage to buildings

The total number of buildings at the beginning of the war was 8,200, of which 4,452 were lightly, 2,133 “medium-heavy”, 317 heavy and 494 were totally destroyed. Broken down into apartments, of the 24,733 residential units (1939), 2,093 were slightly, 803 moderately, 783 severely and 951 totally damaged (artillery damage and explosions are probably included).

See also

literature

  • M. Diefenbacher and W. Fischer-Pache (eds.): The air war against Nuremberg. Nuremberg City Archives, sources and research on the history and culture of Nuremberg. Volume 33, Nuremberg 2004
  • Georg Wolfgang Schramm: The civil air defense in Nuremberg 1933 - 1945 . Series of publications by the Nuremberg City Archives, Volume 35 I & II, 1983, ISBN 3-87432-088-X
  • Johannes Alles: City map shows the bomb hits . In: Fürther Nachrichten of February 14, 2014.
  • DGB history workshop : Fürth 1945. Städtebilder Verlag, Fürth 1995, ISBN 3-927347-32-9 .
  • Fürth history workshop: War years in Fürth 1939–1945. Städtebilder-Fotoarchiv and Verlag, Fürth 2002, ISBN 3-927347-47-7 .
  • Helmut Mahr: The occupation of the district and the city of Fürth by the US Army in April 1945 . In: Fürther Heimatblätter, 1998 / 1,2, pp. 1–70.
  • Manfred Mümmler: Fürth 1933-1945 . Emskirchen 1995, ISBN 3-926477-13-X .
  • Barbara Ohm: Fürth. History of a city. Jungkunz Verlag, Fürth 2007, ISBN 978-3-9808686-1-7 . (P. 312 f.)
  • Adolf Schwammberger: Fürth from A to Z. A history dictionary. Verlag für Kunstproduktionen Christoph Schmidt, Neustadt an der Aisch 1984, ISBN 3-923006-33-0 , p. 230 ( war damage. ), 404 f. ( Destruction. ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The number and sometimes also the date of the attacks do not always match in the sources.
  2. ↑ Barbara Ohm: Fürth. History of a city. 2007, p. 313.
  3. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 184.
  4. ↑ Barbara Ohm: Fürth. History of a city. 2007, p. 313.
  5. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 19 f.
  6. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 176.
  7. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 41.
  8. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 176 f.
  9. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 41 ff.
  10. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 177 ff., 221 ff.
  11. ^ Gregor Schöllgen: Gustav Schickedanz Biography of a Revolutionary Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-8270-0948-7 , p. 172 f.
  12. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 46 ff.
  13. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 180.
  14. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 54 ff.
  15. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 181 f.
  16. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 60.
  17. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 60.
  18. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 62.
  19. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 62.
  20. ↑ DGB history workshop : Fürth 1945. 1995, p. 15 f.
  21. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 62 f.
  22. ^ DGB history workshop : Fürth 1945. 1995, p. 15 ff., 21.
  23. ↑ Aerial photo after the attack on February 21, 1945: DGB-Geschichtswerkstatt: Fürth 1945. 1995, p. 48.
  24. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 183.
  25. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 64.
  26. ↑ DGB history workshop : Fürth 1945. 1995, p. 22.
  27. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 183.
  28. ^ Fürth history workshop : War years in Fürth 1939–1945. 2002, p. 64.
  29. ↑ DGB history workshop : Fürth 1945. 1995, p. 26.
  30. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 183.
  31. ↑ DGB history workshop : Fürth 1945. 1995, p. 39.
  32. ↑ Helmut Mahr: The occupation of the district and the city of Fürth by the US Army in April 1945 . In: Fürther Heimatblätter, 1998 / No. 1-2, p. 29 f.
  33. ^ Mümmler: Fürth 1933 - 1945 . 1995, p. 182 f.
  34. ↑ sponge Berger: Fürth from A to Z . 1984, p. 230, 404 f.
  35. ^ Damage balance 1945: DGB-Geschichtswerkstatt: Fürth 1945. 1995, p. 46.